ATLAS 5 CENTAUR R/B

ATLAS 5 CENTAUR R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 2015-10-08 from Vandenberg SFB, California on the INTRUDER launch. After 11 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 474 km and 627 km with an inclination of 64.8°. It travels at approximately 27,319 km/h (7.59 km/s), completing one full orbit every 96 minutes — that’s roughly 15.05 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~3–10 years. Spent rocket bodies like ATLAS 5 CENTAUR R/B are among the largest pieces of uncontrolled space debris and are priority targets for collision avoidance manoeuvres and future active debris removal efforts.

ATLAS 5 CENTAUR R/B orbits at an average altitude of 551 km in the core of Low Earth Orbit, the most heavily utilised altitude band. The balance of moderate drag (limiting debris accumulation) and short signal path (enabling low-latency links and high-resolution imaging) makes this regime the default for most commercial and government missions. Within ±50 km of ATLAS 5 CENTAUR R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 3,330 active payloads and 368 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include STARLINK-1184, STARLINK-1276, ONEWEB-0050. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 19% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 64.8°, ATLAS 5 CENTAUR R/B passes over latitudes between 64.8°N and 64.8°S, covering most populated land masses in both hemispheres. This mid-inclination band balances global coverage with efficient launch energy requirements. United States operates approximately 12,413 active satellites in total, of which 2,694 share a similar altitude band with ATLAS 5 CENTAUR R/B.